The paper consistently makes use of negative clichés and stigmatising language to describe people who use drugs. In one instance, the authors describe their hypothesis of how “saving more addicts’ lives increases the stock of drug users and the pool of people who need to fund their addictions”. Note to researchers: if you find yourself referring to any group of people as stock, as if they were goods on a warehouse shelf, you’re doing something seriously wrong.

Clearly the statistics used to promote the Singapore myth either do not exist, or fall apart under scrutiny. As a result, any attempt to use the Singapore model as evidence of the effectiveness of the death penalty for drug offences is ludicrous. Given the unprecedented overdose crisis in the US, Americans deserve an evidence-based response. Pursuing myth-based drug policies will only make the problem worse.

Many of the most vulnerable people in Bristol are dying, while measures that have been shown to save both lives and money, and are recommended by the Government’s expert advisers, have not been fully considered.

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The people behind this site

Nigel Brunsdon

Nigel’s day job is being the Community Manager at HIT, he also runs the injectingadvice.com website and a number of other online harm reduction projects. In his spare time he can be found hiding behind a camera.

Craig Harvey

Craig is a committed harm reductionist, having worked primarily with people who inject drugs for two decades, both in the United Kingdom and Australia. A surfer, climber and wannabe novelist, he sometimes takes photographs too.